Ghana denies match-fixing friendly

Ghana's national soccer players pose for a team photo before their 2014 World Cup Group G soccer match against Germany at the Castelao arena in Fortaleza. Photo: Marcelo Del Pozo

London - The President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) told the BBC on Monday he had not agreed for the national side to play in a friendly organised by match fixers.

A joint investigation by British broadcaster Channel 4 and The Daily Telegraph claimed GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi had agreed a $170,000 (R1 801 838) contract for the national team to play in a match in which the officials had been selected by a bogus investment firm, against FIFA rules.

However, Nyantakyi told BBC World Service he had not signed the contract because he had concerns over it.

“The contents of the publication are not wholly true,” Nyantakyi said.

“I have not agreed to any match-fixing deal involving the GFA.

“I was given a draft contract which I indicated to their agent that I hadn't read and I also had some issues with it and so it will be premature for anybody to say the GFA is at fault.”

On Sunday the GFA had issued a statement declaring no contract had been signed and that it had asked British police to investigate “two persons for misrepresenting the GFA with an attempt to defraud.”

It named the two men as Christopher Forsythe, a registered Fifa agent, and Obed Nketiah, a senior figure in the GFA.

Nketiah and Forsythe had previously met with undercover reporters from the Daily Telegraph and Channel 4's Dispatches programme, believing them to be from an investment firm keen on “sponsoring” a friendly match, the paper reported.

The two men, along with the reporters, then met with Nyantakyi at a Miami hotel earlier this month to discuss the contract, according to the report.

“We wish to state that the GFA did not sign the contract as we waited for the response from the Legal Committee,” said the GFA statement.

“The GFA has also reported the matter to Fifa and CAF,” it added.

“We wish to assure the public that we will not tolerate such misrepresentations and we will seek strong sanctions against such individuals if such claims are found to be true.”

Forsythe and Nketiah both deny plotting to fix matches.

“These are false allegations and I will never in my life do such a thing,” said Nketiah.

The national team are currently playing in the World Cup in Brazil, and won plaudits for their performance in a pulsating 2-2 draw with Germany on Saturday which kept alive their hopes of reaching the second round.